A Study of the Thermohydrodynamic Lubrication Performanc e of Thrust Bearing with Plate-Spring Supported Circular Pads

The steady state thermohydrodynamic lubrication performance of thrust bearing with plate spring supported circular pads was studied.An analysis of influence of spring flexure rigidity,load, and angular speed on the distribution of film thickness, film pressure, film temperature,power loss, and pressure center location was carried out.It is shown that low flexure rigidity of spring and load is helpful in enhancing the lubrication performance of thrust bearing. A concept of temperature factor is presented as well. The temperature factor keeps almost unchanged in a wide range of angular speed, the corresponding change in the film temperature is negligible. Moreover,the pressure center of oil film is located at the upriver range of the circular pad.